The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1887-04-20
lIFEeoArs DRIVEN BY STEAM.
Why shouId osrs Always BE Be,ied
Upon in the SURF?

Why ShouId Oars Always BE Re,ied
Upon in the surf9
One of the subjects now occupying the
attention of thu officers IN charge of tb..
life saving stations of the United States Is
the substitution of some other power Tor
propeliing lifeb,ats through the surf than
the muscles of tue crews, exerted through
long heavy cars. The proposition to sub
stitute steam launches for roygboats Is not
a new one, bait no practical attempt to
make the Change has ever been made.
The proposition has simply been dis
cussed. The reed of something more
Trustworthy than oars in the hands of
mon who are drenclled to the skin with
freezing salt spray, and exhausted. per-
haps, with long pull from the beach to
the wreck, and the exerions of getting
the sailors from the wreck into the boat,
is apparent to any one who considers the
subject. Even in a smooth sea it is no
small task for crew TO force the big two
ton boat through the water. 1t is likely
that for a sweepstakes of 800 on a pleas
ant day they might row over a three mile
straightaway course IN an hour. But in
the face of a winter gale, when men are
dropping from the rigging of a stranded
vessel into the surf, aud minute delay
it is all that the crews can do TO make
any headway.
To the ordinary observer the construc-
ton of a steam engine, boiler, shaft and
wheel fit to drive twenty-five foot boat
seems simple matter. It is, in fact,
easy to build a stanch steam launch Of
that size. But steam launches are sup
posed to ride over the waves. while a
lifal,DoF sv,kIyr 41,..o,,r-l,
them. Any ordinary sort of steam
boiler fired by coal would be drowned out
by the first cllrler that dropped into the
boat. But that need not discourage in
ventors who want to use steam to drive
a lifeboat. Steam boilers can be heated
by petroleum or by compressed gas. and
these fuels, with the necessary air. to
produce combustion, might be pumped
into Z water tight firebox. Nor need the
inventors conftne themselves to steam en-
gines. Within year or so exceedingly
compact and powerful engines, operated
by tlIe explosion Of crude petroleum and
air in the cylinder of the engine, have
come into use and are highly recon-
mended by those who have used them.
1t is apparent that one of these machines
could be adapted to a lifeboat, for Lieut..
Zalinski at Fort Hamilton proposed to use
one in the submarine torpedo boat with
which he is experimenting. Equally easy
to adapt to the purpose would be some of
the modern gas engines, in which the
power comes from igmting quantity of
Illuminating gas mixed with air.
a regular lifeboat, declled over at the
water line, built with compartments.
supplied with an iron keel for ballast.
might be fixed with a steam engine. Thu
increase of weight would be an objec :
ton. but the increase of speed wllch
once she was afoat. ard the comfort IF
her crew, who would not be required to
wear themselves out at the oars, and che
certainty that the boat could meet oyen
the largest breakers when backing toward
the beach, and the fact that the compara-
lively fresh crew could, if necessary, in
this the most critical point of the trip,
get out couple of oars to help keep the
boat bows on, are considerations that
would probably outweigh all objections.
New York Sun.